The transition from a discussion on politics of ideology to
politics of economy provides a natural progression.
In the previous paper, I discussed the decline of ideological
politics. What has filled the void left by the drain of ideological struggle: individual
self interest (that expresses itself in methods, not limited to, but
significantly related to the economic realm) maximization. We have seen voting behavior
in our own country being heavily influenced by motives to achieve the best
possible allocation and organization of resources for the individual and their
limited scope of affection (defined here as the group of individuals or possessions
valued by a person).
An interesting manifestation of this tendency and a reflection
of how well our leaders understand and utilize it was the distribution of
laptops to the youth of Punjab under the CM Punjab Laptop Scheme just a few
months before the 2013 national elections. Ideology, policy papers, ability to
deliver utilitarian benefit has been replaced by narrow benefit of the
individual as the basis upon which decisions that impact collective domains of
social life are made. Similarly, the recurring screams of ‘We will award Rs x
to every single person in situation y’ and ‘We will raise the salaries of every
government employee by Rs z’ also provide an applicable example of how self
interest has replaced the importance of, for one, utilitarian behavior, and
secondly, of ideological superiority.
This behavior extends beyond economic decisions and benefits
due to the far reaching implication of a capitalist mindset and hence carries
serious, and in my opinion, suboptimal implications for any social setting due
to the inability of the effort of all individuals looking to maximize personal
gain creating the largest potential gain for the collective group, which is
better attained by all individuals looking to maximize collective gain beyond
their scope of affection and even more effectively attained when the same is
done in a manner that the non-affectionate set is prioritized over the ‘in-group’
affections.
1 comment:
Those in power do all what they can to retain it come election day. This usually entails the unrolling of ambitious economic plans and promises to create new jobs etc. These vows, most often are shallow and hold no water after voting. Although politics and economics are greatly intertwined, the question remains: is it moral for those in power to use the economy as a tool to harvest their victory?
It isn't possible to remove the two spheres, however there should be checks and balances in place to ensure that the economic situation of a country is not used by candidates to accelerate their popularity.
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